Following two days of student protests, students walk by posted fliers on Friday describing past racist incidents that occurred on campus at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont.

Following two days of student protests, fliers are posted in front of the office of admission building on Friday, which describe past discriminatory incidents that occurred on campus at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont.

CLAREMONT >> It was written on a piece of torn-up cardboard but the message said it all — “POC are exhausted.”

Posted all across Claremont McKenna College on Friday were fliers further explaining the narrative: That “people of color” are tired of racial tensions on the prestigious campus.

“This isn’t an isolated incident,” the flier reads, referring to the number of occasions when students have experienced bias in one form or another.

Bias — and race — have taken the spotlight at the campus this week after Thursday’s resignation of the Dean of Students, Mary Spellman, who stepped down a day after students criticized how the university handled a photo many viewed as racially insensitive.

The photo showed the university’s junior class president — who has also stepped down — posing for a Halloween photo alongside two white women wearing sombreros and ponchos, and holding maracas.

It was the culmination, students said, of a series of racially insensitive incidents that in recent months have drawn the ire of students. They say such incidents are part of a systematic issue at the liberal arts college.

Earlier this year, according to the fliers posted, a class president sent out an email that some students perceived as anti-black. When students tried to complain, they were advised against it by administrators.

Also this year, a student’s poster, which showed support for transgender rights was defaced. While the Dean of Students’ Office was notified, college staff has never publicly addressed the incident.

In 2014, students called for more LGBTQ events after a gay couple felt they were unsafe on the campus when they were harassed and forced to leave a party.

Need to listen

For the Fall 2014 semester, a total of 1,325 students were enrolled at Claremont McKenna College, of which 137 were Asian, 57 were African-American, and 180 were Hispanic.

“It’s time we as a school — students, administrators, faculty — start really taking into account what people of color are saying,” said Sam Becker, a CMC freshman studying environment, economy and politics, with a dual major in legal studies.

“Currently, it seems as if the whole school has not taken any action to make them feel like they belong,” Becker continued. “There’s a lot of opportunity for growth and a lot of opportunity for change.”

CMC President Hiram Chodosh was not available for comment.

Students said the reality at the Claremont colleges is dramatically different from the image of progressive attitudes and diversity they were sold as prospective students.

“When I was a freshman, they told us all kinds of numbers and statistics about how we were the most diverse class,” CMC student DeDe Curtis said. “But numbers don’t mean diversity and inclusion. You are either forced to assimilate to white culture, or you are marginalized.”

“It feels like we’re here just as numbers,” she added.

The students said they are regularly asked to be the token student of color for recruiting purposes.

“I’m not going to be a pawn for you,” said Emily Carpenter, a junior at Pomona College.

Becker, who comes from Oregon, said he was shocked by all the stories posted throughout the campus. Since then he has engaged in a dialogue with his classmates, some of which have shared more examples of inequalities on the campus.

“This makes me frustrated and sad,” the 19-year-old said.

Most of his friends are supportive of the movement but he has heard from others who don’t agree, Becker said.

“When I first came to CMC I thought I was going to a more diverse campus that’s racially, ethnically and social-economically — just in every sense of the word — diverse,” he said. “They kind of played that up.”

Becker says he feels like he’s been lied to.

Dust settles

On Friday morning, emotions were subdued from the previous two days, where there were protests about the issues on the campus as well as what has been transpiring at campuses throughout the U.S. One female student, as she walked by the sea of white posters, could be overheard scoffing at the national media attention that has descended onto the quite college town: “they’re trying to compare it to Missouri.”

As CMC senior John Hyatt made his way off the campus on Friday, the history major said the resignation of one administrator wasn’t going to solve the problem.

“This is just the beginning,” he said. “Where do we go from here and how do we fix things?”

The administration can start by including students of color voices in the selection of the next dean of students, said Curtis, a junior and president of the Pan-African Student’s Association and co-founder of the Black Woman’s Collective on campus.

“Who’s to say they won’t just get someone similar who doesn’t understand the issues of students of color, who doesn’t respect the concerns of students of color?” Curtis asked.

Students said the issues at the colleges go far beyond an offensive photo. They said the climate at the five Claremont colleges for many students is unfriendly at best and unsafe at worst.

Carpenter recounted stories of black friends getting spit on and urinated on by white students at parties.

A mural memorializing unarmed people of color who had been killed by police was defaced last year. The mural features three people — two with their hands up and one woman laying, shot dead.

To make matters worse, Carpenter said, the administration did nothing to respond until students’ wrote the culprit’s name on the mural and blasted the administration for inaction.

“These things are shocking, but they are not novel,” she said.

Scripps sophomore Cynthia Irobunda recalled a “die-in” that black students held in the student union last year to protest the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. As students lay protesting, white students stepped over them laughing and calling them names, she said.

On top of those bigger incidents are everyday “microaggressions,” students said.

Curtis said black and Latino voices are ignored and invalidated in the classroom as “dumb or wrong,” unless they are talking about particular issues related to minorities, in which case they are expected to represent their race.

Liset Márquez covers the cities of Pomona, Claremont, La Verne and San Dimas for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. A beat reporter for the Bulletin since 2006, she previously wrote for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. She keeps a watchful eye on city councils and the Dodgers.